Kingdom Hearts: Lost Shadow in The Dark
by Absolute Fragmentation
Summary: A year has passed since Sora has become a Keyblade Master and defeated Master Xehanort. On his deathbed, Xehanort speaks vaguely of someone who will continue his goal and kill them all. For a year nothing has happened. Until an unknown man emerges from nowhere and attacks Hollow Bastion. Sora, Donald, and Goofy are sent to investigate and find that their peace is already over.
1. Chapter 1

Kingdom Hearts: Lost Legend Returns

Xemnas had often come down here to this lab in Radiant Garden.

It had served a purpose to him, a way to recollect his memories and to find a quiet place to think. Not the castle wasn't, it was perfectly quiet, no one bothered him and…yes he did have plenty of time to think. So why was he here? He could only find one reason that his mind could tell him:

His _friend_ was here, and wanted to see him.

Xemnas flicked up his hood, no doubt believing that the camera was replaced like it was every time. He stepped into the room and the shrill alarm of the camera went off.

_If only they could hear it_, he had thought. Without looking at it, he had silenced the security camera with a single blast of energy. The annoying shrill instantly stopped, and the room became quiet again. He then approached the computer in the center of the room and pulled out a data disk out from his pocket, and inserted it into the interface. The computer was silent for a moment, then began to hum and the screen displayed 6 different lines. The bottom of the screen typed out the all too familiar phrase.

**PLEASE INPUT PASSWORDS**

Xemnas leaned over and began to input the passwords and recited them out loud.

"Ienzo…Even…Dilan…Aeleus…Braig…Xehanort…" He reached over to press the enter button on the keypad. He stopped, and asked himself, why would he _want_ to do that? He stared back at the screen, looking over the passcodes. Those weren't the passcodes he wanted…no, he wanted to type in something different, he _needed_ to. He deleted the six, and began to type again, the anxiousness began crawling up and down his back and through his body.

_Invalid, Impure, Ruin, Death, Destruction._

He pressed enter and the screen went black, he then saw his reflection.

His skin was gray in color, like he had just died and came back to life. His expressionless amber eyes were now replaced with a dead, icy blue and a dead stormy gray. Running down the left side of his face was a jagged, ugly scar that was dark in color. He would have touched it, if he paid any mind to. If he was human, he might have flinched, screamed at the top of his lungs at the sudden horrific change in his looks. But he was a Nobody, he didn't have a heart and thus, had no feelings. He stared calmly at the screen and text began to appear.

**REPLICATION DATA COPY DOWNLOADED.**

**EXPECT COMPLETION IN 3 DAYS. COPY SHALL REMAIN ON STAND BY.**

Xemnas smiled, exactly what he needed to see. His smile, however, faded. He realized that he was still standing in front of the computer and had a concerning feeling in the back of his mind, like he is trying to remember something. Something that happened just now and he can't remember it. The feeling continued to bother him as he typed in the passcodes to the Chamber of Repose below. Did he miss something? Why did he feel like he did something that could affect his plans? He typed enter and the disk popped back out. He felt a presence nearby, not strong like a human or like Sora, but half-empty. _Xigbar_ he thought as he narrowed his eyes. He swiped up the disk and returned it to his pocket, and a floor panel in front of him opened up, revealing a set of stairs and a darkened hallway that they lead to. Xemnas took one last look at the computer, then the hall that lead to the computer room and sighed.

He needed to make sure to shut the hatch completely this time.

…

Morning light filled Sora's room as he slept.

A year has passed since the fall of Master Xehanort and the victory of the forces of light. Sora and his friends have since returned home to Destiny Islands and are living peacefully. Well, most of the time. Yen Sid, being as cautious as ever, has been keeping Sora and his friends, Riku, Kairi, Lea, Donald, and Goofy, in shape in case of the darkness ever rising again. As he contemplated on these things, he thought about all his accomplishments since he received the Keyblade. Just two years ago when he had gotten it, he had defeated Xehanort's Heartless and stopped the devouring of worlds that he would have caused. Then, at Castle Oblivion he defeated Marluxia, who attempted to change and shift Sora's memories and use him to defeat Organization XIII. He ended up defeating Xemnas, leader of the organization and the Nobodies, in order to prevent the recreation of Kingdom Hearts for nefarious purposes. His greatest achievements were his passing of the Keyblade Mastery Test and the end of Master Xehanort.

He smiled mentally, after his initial failure he had taken it again, intent on passing. He spent half of last year taking it, and was brutal, painful and sensitive welts on his skin that would cause him to cry out in pain, even when it was accidental. That wasn't the worst part, he felt completely drained, his arms and legs were numb and could barely hold his body up. His eyelids were heavy and he wanted to collapse on the floor and sleep, and he did. But in the end he never felt so strong, so fast, so alert and sharp thinking.

It was like he opened his eyes to the world for the first time.

He and his friends took the battle to Xehanort after he had recovered, his thirteen warriors of darkness aligned against them, they battled for a full day and night. Xehanort wanted the X-blade, but Sora and his friends wanted him gone, they only had six lights, and while they agreed it would bring an advantage to their side, it still troubled Sora, while they defeated his 13 warriors and killed him, his last conversation with Xehanort still rung in his head.

_Everything was gone, his plans ruined._

_Anger seethed through Xehanort, his gloved fists clenched tightly, hatred rushing through his eerie amber eyes, which were set aflame with a fire so ferocious it could burn the world to ashes. The six of the seven lights stood before him, their Keyblades in hand, looking down on him. He would summon his, if it were not destroyed, he would call upon his magic to destroy them, but his other hand was covering a long cut across his chest, which was bleeding profusely. They must have nicked an artery, he was going to die anyway. This was what angered him, he was going to _die_, and he couldn't do anything to stop it. No plans, no back up plans, no nothing._

"_You lose, Xehanort." Sora proclaimed, he had beaten him so many times, in many different forms, his younger self, his Nobody, and his Heartless too. He was not escaping this time. Not on his life._

_To his reply he sneered, "This will never be over, brat." He growled and began to raise his voice. "You will never be rid of me. I am Xehanort! The master of darkness! The balance between light and darkness will remain uneven! DO YOU HEAR ME!"_

_Sora felt his anger begin to smolder and churn up inside him. Xehanort begin to yell even louder, "YOU WILL CAUSE THE RUIN OF EVERYTHING I HAVE WORKED FOR! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, YOU USELESS, INSOLENT BRAT! YOU'RE THE MANIAC HERE, YOU AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS!" He ranted. "YOU'RE THE VILLIAN OF THIS STORY! YOU! NOT ME! YOU'RE THE VILLIAN, AND I AM THE GODDAMN HERO!"_

_No one saw anyone move, but they saw only Sora behind the shell of the man known as Xehanort. On his chest another slash was present, forming the X sigil that he had been affiliated with for so long. He fell to his knees, his eyes were ones of surprise. He then took the time to say his final words to his assailant, his enemy, the boy who had taken the Keyblade and cut through his plans with one swing._

"_My power will never fade…He…He…will return soon…and will finish what I…started…"_

_The dying man fell forward and with a final 'thump,' the man known as Xehanort, had died._

Sunlight shined onto his closed eyes, interrupting his thought process. He groaned and opened his eyes, he was still in his old room. The same mess he was so familiar to.

_Still home, everything is still alright_, he smiled to himself and gotten dressed.

…

The Mysterious Tower was silent as Yen Sid thought over what Xehanort had said at the end of that battle. Who is this person he had spoken of? A successor seemed out of the question in Xehanort's case, as the last he had was Terra. He had done that only to take over his body. So who could he mean? I had grown up with Xehanort and Eraqus and in that time couldn't think of anyone that could be someone he trusted. Eraqus and Xehanort's master had been killed during a battle with a robed man.

It was a saddening thing, for he was there and he saw the man for himself.

He wore no Keyblade armor, but instead was draped in heavy robes colored dark gray with a matching wide brimmed wizard's hat. Also he carried not a Keyblade, but a large staff made from rotting bones of people. I shuddered as I remembered it. While the entire base of the staff was consistent of a long, carved bone that had come from a large animal, the top had a great amount of skulls, four of them without jaws were held up with skeletal wrist and hands, above them sat one last skull with its jaw attached. His weapon was not the most disturbing thing, it was his eyes. His left eye was a frozen, unforgiving blue and his right was an expressionless, lifeless grey that seemed unaffected by the crime that its owner had caused.

Xehanort swore revenge against the man and would track him down. But he never did, he fell to darkness before he could.

Yen Sid leaned back in his chair and let sleep take him as he thought about what Xehanort meant.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: _His _Arrival

He dreamed of a time before the disaster he had suffered, a time when he could relax and live normally, where darkness and light were in balance, and he didn't have this painful ache in his chest. He imagined a time when he could breathe in the sweet, warm air that was in Radiant Garden. He imagined himself laughing, running through the garden, jumping over benches, the fountain, and most of all he felt free, like he could face down the biggest, largest creature that the Realm of Darkness could spit out and just laugh it off. He _loved_ Radiant Garden, he _loved_ the warm sun.

Most of all, he _loved_ his best friend, Rose. He could still remember her features.

Her soft eyes were a vivid blue, warm just like the sun and full of joy. Her porcelain skin was smooth as silk, although he only knew this because he lightly ran his fingers over her wrist when she was taking a nap, but still it had counted. Her face was beautiful, angular but feminine with a small nose he would like to poke so she would pretend to get mad at him for it. The best part of her was her hair, colored like a cherry blossom with red accents at the tips. It was never past the shoulders, and felt soft like a pillow. He remembered the time she had fallen asleep on his chest when they were rested in a forest, she looked so peaceful and serene. Pretty soon he fell asleep with her in his arms, taking in breaths of that sweet, pure air as he did. When he opened his eyes, they weren't in the forest anymore. Panicking, he looked around only to find a sea of blackness no matter where he looked.

His eyes widened, where was Rose?

He looked behind himself, and what once stood nothing in the inky blackness, now stood Rose, Keyblade in hand.

No, no, no, he didn't want to see this again. The Keyblade was Rose's demise despite her training. She had lost it during the Great War and something changed in her. And it killed me, it wrecked me, _changed_ me because of what it did to her. Driven mad in the pursuit for Kingdom Hearts, the ultimate salvation for any person. She had lied to _me_, her close friend, about wanting to keep balance. And she paid for it, with the loss of her source of pride, she killed herself.

Rose's Keyblade was reminiscent of her name. The handle and guard were made from a deep green vine that had blooming white roses that ran along the vine with a keychain representing a fully bloomed rose. The blade was much like a machete if you stripped everything else away, but wrapping up the blade were vines that had sharp thorns running up in down that lead up to one final rose blossom at the tip, the teeth were large thorns that curved downwards like hooks. It would appear that the thing couldn't go right through you at the point, but that's just to trick you, or so she said.

But now, she was going to run herself through with her _own_ Keyblade.

_Rose._

She raised the weapon.

_Rose!_

She directed it at her chest, slowly, deliberately. He found himself unable to move from his spot. Damn this! Damn it all! He felt his heart seize at what Rose was going to do.

_Rose! Stop, please!_

She turned to look at me, I flinched, her beautiful blue eyes were dead, lifeless, and her expression blank.

_Goodbye, Eden._

She stabbed herself through the heart, and everything stopped for a moment. Then his heart shattered, her dead, beautiful blue eyes, kept staring at him. Blood began to flow from her chest as she pulled the bloody blade from her body. She stumbled forward a few steps towards him, before falling to her knees and dropping dead.

Hopelessness swam over him, making his body fold on to the ground, stunned.

Only then could he scream.

He woke up to the hard ground beneath him and breathing in stale air and dust instead of the fresh air of Radiant Garden. Startled, he opened his eyes and began coughing. The sudden intake of the foreign air sent powerful coughs that racked his insides and burned his throat. He held his breath for a few moments, stopping the coughs. His lungs now began to burn in protest to the lack of breathing. Slowly, carefully, he breathes in slow and small breaths, making sure he doesn't go into another coughing fit, then begins to take in longer and deeper breaths, his throat becoming adapted to the air around him.

Being sure that his throat's alright, he finally looked up.

Around him was a large, barren canyon in which was surrounded by cliffs colored dark blue with a sunset sky. Looking around him, he saw at the top of the cliffs there was a large castle. He didn't know why he was here, so perhaps that was the best option. How was he going to get up there though? A surge of pain stabbed at his mind like a knife, he forced him to ignore it, believing it to be a headache. The pain grew, however, and he rubbed the sides of his head in an attempt to soothe it. It became searing now, like a fire has been lit in his mind. It soon became unbearable and fell to his knees, his eyes shut tight. A sudden plethora of memories ran across his conscious.

_Great Magician of Keyblade War._

_Master of wind, fire, ice, lightning, water, and necromancy._

_Rose, my love._

_Keyblade Masters, forcing me into corner._

_Keyblade Masters, hunting me at the end._

_Keyblade Masters._

_Keyblade, weapon of ruin and death._

_Rose's Keyblade _killed_ her_.

_Cursed…Keyblade._

He opened his eyes, seeing himself surrounded by cartoonish knights and black figures of various shapes with yellow eyes. He summoned the staff he never knew he had, one made of rotting bones. Ready to fight off these weird looking…creatures, if you could call them that. To his surprise, they did nothing, just staring at him expectantly, like they were waiting for him to say something.

"Back away." He spoken, his voice was a whisper, hoarse and quiet.

To his surprise, they did. They took a few steps back, and gave him that same, expectant look. He narrowed his eyes, a trick? He gave another order.

"Kneel." And they did, the knights and black shapes got down on one knee, and _still_ gave that same look. He didn't know what these creatures were, and was confused on why they are listening to him.

_Heartless, creatures of the Realm of Darkness made from a person's lost hearts, obedient to the strongest and only them._

He smiled, The Great Magician smiled, obedient, huh?

"Heartless," He spoke, his voice sounding deeper, "I want you…" He pointed his finger up to the castle on the cliff, the Heartless followed it like trained dogs. "…to take me up there and inside."

He let his hand fall to his side and waited. The stared up at the castle, as though they might be hesitating. The black shapes then flattened themselves down along the ground, they almost looked like shadows. They moved beneath him, no, _writhed _beneath him, like they were twitching violently. He knew what they were doing though, they were destroying themselves.

They were doing it all for nothing, he just wanted to see what they could do.

In a flash he took off into the air, and headed in the direction of the castle.


	3. Chapter 3

**My computer had died, had to get a new one. I would like to thank siksena for being my first reviewer. :) Here is the chapter.**

Chapter 3

Yen Sid had awoken suddenly. He hadn't woken in the middle of sleep like this for a long time, and knew that something was wrong. Unless the fairies had bothered him, nothing ever disturbed his rest. He had gotten up from his seat and went over by the window in his study. Every time he felt troubled, he would seek guidance from the stars to see the conditions of the now and the future.

He closed his eyes, and the stars gave him a vision.

_He saw all the worlds, floating in the nothingness in between. He could see the darkness in each and every one of them. While worlds like his, Destiny Islands, and Disney Castle had a faint aura, as usual. As he looked over other worlds that the Disney villains had inhabited, they possessed a light purple or black aura as in Hollow Bastion's case._

So this is the present,_ Yen Sid had thought. "Show me the future."_

_Suddenly, time had gone fast-forward, the worlds were beginning to come together again as one whole landform. With the darkness fading from each world, slowly becoming pure light. Then above all of those worlds was a titanic moon with a shape representing a heart, its brilliant light shining down on all the land, annihilating all darkness that faced it: Kingdom Hearts._

_Yen Sid was stunned, Kingdom Hearts returned to the sky? That's impossible, surely during the Great Keyblade War it had been swallowed by the darkness, never to return?_

_That's when he looked back up to the sky. A figure floated in front of the moon, its silhouette shrouded in blackness. Yen Sid blinked, and the figure was in front of him, a large, dark hood hiding the face. Being able to see the person more clearly, he was a male shrouded in dark robes that billowed out to the side of his body from an unseen wind. He looked up at Yen Sid, revealing eyes that made his blood run cold and hair on the back of his neck stand up._

_Two different colored eyes that glowed, one was an icy blue that held cruelty and unforgiving hatred, the other was a stormy gray, bleak and absolutely lifeless, along his ghastly pale skin was an ugly black, jagged scar that ran down from his eye to his jaw._

_They were the same eyes that the killer had, the one who took Xehanort's and Eraqus's master away from them. _

_In an instant a fiery inferno swirled into Yen Sid's hand and launched it at the man._

_Like it was nothing, the man knocked away the searing fireball, barely moving, his expressionless face remaining the same._

_Yen Sid struggled to keep his emotions under control, as he felt spasms of anger running through his body. The figure had floated out of his view, revealing Kingdom Hearts had changed appearance, once a shining, brilliant blue, was now a blood red and was getting darker. Yen Sid was horrified at what he saw, the world began to drift apart and fall into the nothingness below, being consumed by darkness. Kingdom Hearts continued to darken, its light fading to nothing, leaving him and the figure in the dark._

"_You…you're doing this?" He said to the man._

_The man turned towards him, his cruel lips upturned in a smile._

"_You never learned where your place was, Keyblade wielder."_

When Yen Sid's opened his eyes, he felt his body give beneath him. He slumped to the floor, shocked, that man was to cause an apocalypse? He knew that he was strong, as he had killed Xehanort's and Eraqus's master, who was known to be one of the strongest Keyblade masters at the time. But to have him alive, breathing, not showing any sign of aging, and to supposedly to cause the world to crumble and die?

"Master Yen Sid!" Three voices had yelled out. The fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather had rushed into his study to see what was wrong.

"I'm fine," Yen Sid lied, as he hauled himself on to his feet, he had to use his desk to keep his exhausted limbs up. "Send a message to Mickey, have him gather up Sora and his friends."

The three looked concerned, "But why, Master Yen Sid?"

"I have a feeling something is wrong." he had whispered.

And there was, something was very wrong, he never doubted the visions he was given. He needed to gather the lights again, if Kingdom Hearts is going to rise, they will need to protect it from darkness.

Or die trying.

…

The man walked through the castle almost casually.

The way there was infested with Heartless, acting as guards, as he would like to think. They instead were wondering aimlessly, like they had no specific purpose or mission. As he passed them however, it was like a bloodhound that picked up a scent, and that scent was him. More and more of the creatures followed him, soon a horde of darkness and yellow eyes were slowly trailing him as he went through.

_What an interesting castle_, He had thought. _Was it just left here? If not, who owns the place?_

"That would be me." The man turned, noticing someone had came up behind him.

Behind him was a woman, but a strange one at that. Her pale skin was shown from her hands and an angular face with sinister golden eyes. Covering her body was a dark, tattered robe accented purple with sleeves that flared out towards her visible hands. The prominent thing though was her headdress, which had large horns colored black and covered all but the front of her face. In one of her hands was a magical rod with a simple green orb as its source of power. He had noticed that the black mass that once trailed him was behind the woman now.

"And who are you?" He asked.

She narrowed her eyes towards the man, "I would ask you the same question, but I would rather ask why you are invading my castle?"

"I see you lack the manners to introduce yourself." He mused. But then asked another question.

"This is _your_ castle?"

"Yes, you are in the presence of Maleficent," She gestured towards herself. "Master of this castle and these Heartless." She then gestured to the mass of black and yellow behind her, which was transforming into a titanic Heartless whose chest was a literal empty hole shaped like a heart, a Darkside.

The man didn't react, he merely stood quietly.

Maleficent stood there with a small smile, before uttering a simple command:

"Kill him."

The Darkside passed Maleficent, intent on crushing the life out of the man. However, he too, had said a simple command:

"Do nothing."

The Heartless stopped, its fist in front of him. He walked past the massive being to see Maleficent again, this time with her eyes narrowed and a frown was on her face. Icy blue and grey met amber, and an invisible standoff began between the two, until the man thought of something he had not thought of yet.

"How many years has it been since the end of the Great Keyblade War?"

This took Maleficent by surprise, though did not show it.

"75 years."

It was his turn to be surprised, 75 years?!

"Now, answer my question." Maleficent stated, "What are you doing here?"

That was a good question. He began to think, he really came here for no reason. He just felt...compelled to come here, but for what?

...

...

...

"I don't know."

A long silence filled the air. He felt dazed, a blank look fell across his face.

"Do you need information?"

He looked lazily at her.

"What?"

She began to have suspcious feeling, those hooded eyes looked strangely familiar.

"Did you fight in that war?"

"Yes."

"Whose side did you take?"

"No one's, I was betrayed."

"By whom?"

The man's face twitched slightly, he took a while before he answered quietly.

"The keyblade wielders..." He said it slowly, reluctantly, as if it were a bad memory.

"Did you kill them?"

"Yes, all of those I came across, hunted them _all_. I took several masters on until...until..."

His memory stopped flowing, why couldn't he remember what happened after he fought them? When he tried to think about it, it was just...blank.

"What is your name?"

He thought about this too, he didn't know his name. What kind of man couldn't remember his own name?

Then it came to him, like a flash, it imprinted itself in his mind so he would never forget who he was.

"Eden."

From Maleficent's rod erupted lighting, and Eden was not ready for it, he flew backwards with a grunt and slammed into the wall. His head spun and his chest felt hot, his arms and chest tingling. Another bright flash appeared from down the hall.

He was ready this time, power flowing through his body, he raised his hand, and the lightning bolt was absorbed through his palm. He then focused on Maleficent, whose face was contorted with fury.

"I thought you died all those years ago, Great Magician."

Her face was angry, but her voice was surprisingly calm. Eden said nothing, and merely dusted off his robes, which now had a charred spot in the chest area.

He remembered now who she was, Eden knew her before she gained eternal youth and was still a sorceress's apprentice. How different she had become, all those years later. She was always looking for knowledge, always wanting to learn past the limits. Eden had taught her better, and it was her choice to become what she is now.

In one hand, there was lightning. In the other, was a misty ball of ice. Eden's face was impassive, his mismatched eyes were focused.

"Time to die."

A battle of spells began.

**Chapter 3 is done, at last. Hopefully will continue to post regularly now.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I am going to use 1st person for Eden, trying something new.**

Chapter 4

Sora heard what had happened and immediately traveled to the Mysterious Tower. The fairies had told him about Yen Sid, how he was on the floor shaking, and that he demanded his presense at once. He had arrived via Gummi Ship and walked up. He had wondered if Yen Sid had called for him alone, he was a Keyblade Master after all. A wave of pride flowed over his body at these thoughts.

"Sora!"

He smiled, he knew those voices too well.

He turned around, and was dogpiled by none other than Donald and Goofy. His two friends that changed so much of his life. They soon got off him, allowing him to stand up.

"Yen Sid called you guys too?" He asked. They nodded in agreement.

"He said it was something important." Donald said.

"Master Yen Sid had experienced another vision, I guess." Goofy followed up, making that _hyuck_ noise he often made after speaking.

Sora nodded in agreement, he had been very concerned about everything even when Xehanort was defeated. Constantly waiting for another vision, having them train hard and for long periods of time. He then remembered the time when he was teaching Kairi how to use her keyblade effectively, and man, she was a pro. What started as a simple sparring match quickly escalated into an all-out duel. The clanking of keyblades, the heat and frost radiating from spells. All up until she had tripped and fell on Sora. He could still feel heat, but not from the fire spell he had casted at her earlier. but her _body_ heat. She was right on top of him, her slender frame pressing against him, more so to his groin. Her _eyes_, oh they were beautiful, violet-blue and glazed from exhaustion, as he realized at the time. He told her that was for the day before it got to awkward.

"Sora? _Sora_? SORA!"

He jumped, coming back to reality. Goofy and Donald were in front of him, staring at him, confused. He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed to be caught daydreaming.

"What were you thinking about, Sora?" Goofy asked, making another _hyuck_ sound.

_Oh god,_ he thought,_ don't them know that I was daydreaming about Kairi and me._

"Why are you blushing?" Goofy said, a huge grin coming to his face.

"N-nothing..."

"Probably thinking about Kairi, aren't you Sora?" Donald asked deviously.

Now he was blushing, he sputtered and suggested they headed up into the tower.

Time to find out what Yen Sid was so nervous about.

**...**

I held Maleficent by the collar of her robes and stared down at her, she was barely alive and conscious. I sighed, quite a waste really, she had shown promise and could've been stronger than me, maybe. She had put up a decent fight, her spells powerful and twisted by darkness, but I fought back with more force then she could protect against. Infernos filled the halls, spears of ice flew at high speeds, and lightning blown everything out in white light, forcing Maleficent on the defensive. I liked her dragon form, though. Quite amusing, which is the reason why I was using only one arm is holding her up, the other one stung painfully, she had bit into it and now my entire left arm is bleeding.

"That was simple." I said through gritted teeth. Maleficent weakly lifted her head and looked at me in the eye.

"What do you mean?" She chuckled, which sounded more like a gurgle. "I left quite a big injury on you, I doubt you will recover."

I looked down at my arm, it was pretty much numb now. It felt different, after Maleficent ripped into it, I couldn't move it, it felt like it was detached from my body, but it hung limply and I could feel nothing but searing pain, like it had been lit on fire. I took a daring move, and tried to move it.

My eyes widened, my surprise made me jump very slightly, I could move it. Up, down, left, right. My surprise grew even more, I raised my arm to let the long sleeve slide down to my shoulders, the dark holes ripped into my arm were gone. My surprise became pleasure and relief, I laughed a little bit. A genuine chuckle.

"Impossible."

I turned my head back to Maleficent, she never told me the information she asked to give me before this fight started, she was going to die anyway.

"Tell me, Maleficent." I began, "What has happened since the last time I was here?"

She didn't respond.

"Maleficent?"

Her eyes were still open, her head lolling to the side, her eyes staring at the charred floor.

"_Tell me_, Maleficent."

At the moment I felt something slip inside my mind again, like how I gained some of my memories before fighting her. It ran through the side of my head, through my mind until it presented itself to me. I felt something then, something like a cross between satisfaction and happiness.

I just remembered that I could manipulate memories, thoughts, and most importantly, someone's soul.

My hand became translucent, and I slid it into her chest. Her body then became extremely stiff, her eyes wide open. She then began to scream, an ugly sound that was started to give me a headache. Then, her memories were open to me, a searched through them, one by one, trying to find anything of importance. I spent an half a hour looking through her memories. Seeing how she was manipulated by forces of greater evil, the anger and frustration flowed through him, as it did her. He then felt a spasm of hatred and impulsive anger as he found a memory of a dog-like creature dressed in some sort of armor. A lackey? Most likely dead.

I then felt anger the strongest when a picture of a boy, 14 years old at most, appeared. He had brown, spiky hair that was most likely never combed, his eyes were blue, bright and full of life. He had worn a black vest with a white shirt beneath with red shorts and yellow sneakers. I stifled a laugh, those shoes were _way_ too big for his feet.

That's when I saw it. A weapon shaped like a silver key.

My heart suddenly ached with pain, and hatred began to burn inside my body, it was Maleficent's most likely, but then I realized something.

It was also mine.

I went onto my knees and clutched my head, it began burn again, but so much stronger. I had the incredible urge to kill this boy, to find him, and destroy him utterly. He had the Keyblade, he used the Keyblade. Despair consumed me as remembered my personal vendetta against the Keyblade, 75 years ago after the Great Keyblade War, I had begun to hunt down and kill all those who had used the Keyblade, defeating them and taking their souls, as it held not only the soul captive but the Keyblade too. My despair and sadness quickly were replaced my something stronger, it ran up my spine, spreading tendrils through my body, it pulsed through me, coming in as spasms. I clenched my fists and grit my teeth, my body felt hot and my mind was foggy, I knew what this feeling was:

It was hatred.

I returned to reality, ripping my hand out of Maleficent, who had gone silent, eyes glazed over and skin even paler. The charred hallway was illuminated by a soft, green light. In my hand was Maleficent's soul, it looked beautiful, like a piece of artwork. I felt pity on this one, its keeper was corrupt and cruel. I crushed it without a second thought, its light faded instantly. I let go of Maleficent's body without much care, its usefulness gone, and with a _thump _it fell to the floor, I regarded her corpse with disgust, and turned to walk away.

_Master of Necromancy..._

I stopped, turned around and looked back at her corpse. Actually, I could use her, if Maleficent was an enemy to this boy, then using her as a distraction to draw the boy to me would be a wonderful idea. A ball of dark purple mist formed in one of my hands, and I threw it at the corpse. At first nothing happened, then the body convulsed, then started to thrash about on the floor, as if some fragment of Maleficent remained to resist his foul spell. Then suddenly it stopped, and slowly, Maleficent stood up and grabbed her staff, which had been knocked away from her during our battle. She -no- **it** looked at me, its eyes fixed towards the ceiling, and its mouth opened to let out a groan. I gave it a simple command:

"Draw this boy to me."

The Darkside had been destroyed during the battle, however a large mass of darkness had appeared in front of me, many yellow eyes stared at me.

"Follow the corpse, she will lead you to the hearts that you crave."

The mass then sunk back into the floor before disappering completely.

The Keyblade exists, but once I find the boy, I will extinguish it for good.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When Sora had reached Yen Sid, he noticed something immediately different. His study was a mess, books and papers covering the floor everywhere, all the while Yen Sid was sitting at his desk. He had deep circles beneath his eyes, which were bloodshot and droopy. Had he been sleeping at all? As Sora and his friends stepped in, Yen Sid's head shot up immediately, startling Sora. The look in his eyes worried Sora, they looked disturbed, afraid maybe.

"Master? Are you-"

"Come." Yen Sid said sharply, interrupting Sora mid-sentence.

He came closer to Yen Sid's desk and stood quietly. Sora couldn't get over the look in his eyes, which were usually calm, composed, and stern, but were now just full of fear and uncertainty. Yen Sid did not speak for a while, and left Sora standing, waiting impatiently.

"Hey old timer, you in there?" Sora joked.

Yen Sid did not even react to the statement, which usually he would be yelling at him to watch his manners and get him out of any funk he was in. But this time, he just sat, looking impassively at the wood of his desk.

He then began to speak.

"Sora, its been a year after Xehanort's demise, am I wrong?" Yen Sid was speaking quietly, Donald and Goofy had decided to stand beside Sora and listened as well.

"Yes, master Yen Sid."

"And you remember the consequences?"

Sora's heart suddenly ached, the attack against Xehanort wasn't exactly successful. Ventus' heart was destroyed completely by his other half, Vanitas, which resulted in both their deaths, as they were the same being. Aqua and Terra were badly injured, with Aqua being unable to use her Keyblade for half the year, and Lea had suffered broken ribs and exhaustion from fighting his old friend, Isa. Sora had gotten lucky, only because of one person, Riku.

"Yes, I do master Yen Sid."

Riku deserved better, Xehanort needed a new body, as he was fighting a losing battle. Once again, he tried to take Sora's heart, he would've too, had Riku not have been in the way. Nevertheless, Xehanort had a new, younger, more powerful body, and one of the hardest things Sora had to do was to kill Riku, as Xehanort had taken his body, and made him fight Sora.

"That's not what we are talking about, however."

Sora looked up, putting aside his feelings for the moment. Yen Sid's face hardened, as if preparing for the coversation they're about to have.

"A year had passed since then, I wish it could've been longer. For one of the Great Keyblade War's greatest has returned. A man named Eden."

Yen Sid an image, a man cloaked in dark robes and held a horrifying staff, made of bones that were begininng to rot and change from white to yellow. A hood obscured the upper parts of his face, but what was visible was a scar that ran up from his jaw to beneath the hood, he also sported a light beard, which was a light shade of brown.

"Many years ago I had encountered this man, he was one of the many heroes that came back from the war victorious, or so all but Eden had believed. Eden believed he had lost the war, as Kingdom Hearts was gone and so was his wife, Rose. Who ended her life for unknown reasons. He was known by many titles, The Great Magician, The Supreme Sorcercer of the East, and..."

He looked straight up at Sora.

"The Vile Necromancer of the Condemned."

Donald and Goofy gasped, but Sora was just confused.

"What's a necromancer?"

"A magician who practices the forbidden magics that involve raising the dead and capturing souls, he apparently was a necromancer long before the war, and after it, he mental state snapped like a tree branch. Then started the first purge of Keyblade wielders."

"How? Keyblades can't be destroyed, aren't they indestructible?"

And indeed they were, no Keyblade can be destroyed, if their wielder is killed, they choose another to use them. Or so he had thought.

"He did this by capturing the soul of the wielder in a gourd, trapping their soul and the Keyblade. He went around doing this to everyone who used the Keyblade, defeating them, and then trapping them the same gourd, rinse and repeat. Many tried to hunt him down, but he holed himself in a temple, protected by the very people's corpses he had taken their souls from. He was eventually chased from his temple, and I was part of the group who did, we chased him and then..."

Yen Sid then became distracted, his face twitched for a moment.

"Maleficent is active again, I want you to stop her."

Sora was confused. "Aren't you going to tell me more?"

Yen Sid shook his head, "Not now, she has an unusual amount of Heartless attacking the Restoration Commitee, go and assist them."

"But-"

"_Now._"

WIth that Sora, Donald and Goofy left, taking the Gummi Ship to Hollow Bastion.


	6. Chapter 6

**Let's shoot for that second review! I'm a fan of SoraxKairi, but I'm not used to writing romances, I will try to improve as I go along.**

Chapter 6

As they day went by, I was slowly regaining more of my abilites and memories, like how a mother spoon-feeds her baby. I was rather impatient, waiting anxiously for more to return, and so I took to think about what had happened earlier today. I ground my teeth as I remembered the burning feeling, spreading its dark tendrils through my body, making my anger flare up and triggering another set of memories, which left me drained and confused. I walked through the castle, admiring the cold, dark aura it gave off, the endless Heartless which seemed to spawn instantaneously, and the _silence_, a noise that is constant, never ending, but you can't hear it. I passed a mirror while I traveled through, stopped, and went back. For the first time in a while, I saw myself.

I had fair skin that was normal of any caucasian male, nearly flawless, save for the scars on my hands, and my face was angular and sharp like an aristocrat. My eyes, to me, were unique, one was a light blue, like frost on a winter morning, and the other was gray, like storm clouds full of rain. What I wore were dark robes of intricate design, I had a large, black scarf draped around my shoulders and upper torso, forming some sort of mantle. The robes' cuffs were light green with rather strange looking markings, as I looked at them, I felt like I should know what these are, ritual symbols? Though the middle of my robes were singed from Maleficent's lightning, I could still see a faded white skull that took up much of the torso space, and to top it off, a large amulet hung out in front, how did I not notice this? I held it up so I could see it, a warm, fuzzy feeling replaced the dull ache in my chest, this must have been of value to me. The Amulet was shaped mostly like four sided diamond, like if you tilted a square over and stretched out the top two points, the crystal itself was glowing an eerie red and emitted a almost silent humming noise. I looked back at myself in the mirror, I looked like a necromancer, almost.

Oh god, was I a necromancer? It would explain what I did earlier...

I looked myself over a few more times, perhaps its time to wear something other than these robes. I wonder if Maleficent has anything I could wear, I mean, her robes were _way_ too big on her in the first place.

Oh, wait. Its my castle now, so let's see what _I_ can wear.

**...**

Arriving at Hollow Bastion, Sora and companions found the town under attack.

The Claymores still functioned, firing spheres at the incoming Heartless flowing through the gates, the smallest of the Heartless were easily killed by the defense mechanism, while larger ones kept going through. Leon was out in front, he cut through a Mega Shadow with his gunblade, another rose up, he pulled the trigger on gunblade, and the bullet impacted and caused it to stumble, before he could finish it off, a shuriken buried itself in the Mega Shadow's head, making it burst. Yuffie had joined Leon, and he didn't seem very pleased that she took his kill. Sora and his friends made themselves known coming into the town.

Leon noticed this and gave him a quick nod. Neoshadows and Armored Knights appeared in place of the Mega Shadow, and charged forward. Sora drew out his Kingdom Key, Donald took out his staff, and Goofy his shield. Surveillance Robots also appeared floating behind the group of advanced Heartless. As Sora charged forward, Leon and Yuffie fell back, making sure no more were getting in. Donald struck the the Surveillance Robots with thunder, stunning them for a moment, Sora cut apart one of the knights and blocked a strike from another, kicking it away to duck from a swipe from a Neoshadow.

"Fire!" Sora shouted, and a ball of flame struck the Neoshadow, making it disappear in a puff of black mist. Donald finished off the floating Heartless with another strike of thunder. A shout from Merlin interrupted the fight.

"It's Maleficent!"

Sora turned to see Maleficent standing inside the gates, with two Guard Armors flanking her. They moved forward, the ground quaking with every step. Leon and Yuffie got in front of them.

"Get Maleficent! We'll take care of this!" Leon shouted.

Sora quickly became concerned, "Are you two crazy?!"

"Just go!"

Sora looked at them for a few moments longer, and turned to face Maleficent. Without warning she launched a blast of lightning towards Sora, Goofy jumped in the way, blocking it with his shield. Sora then noticed that Maleficent looked different, her eyes looked lifeless, and not even staring at the three, and her greenish skin was deathly pale. Her robes, which were tattered and worn, had blackened, torn spots which were visible, even on the dark cloth.

"Maleficent?" Sora called out. Her glazed eyes finally focused, staring at him.

_"Face me...and feel the full force from the powers of Hell!" _Her voice was hoarse, and far more demonic unlike Sora's previous encounters with her.

The witch disappeared in a pillar of green energy and emerged in her dragon form, and let loose a stream of fire, putting the houses in the town in flames. The dragon then lowered its head towards Sora, growling menacingly.

_This may prove difficult_, Sora thought.

**...**

I had watched from the top of Maleficent's castle as she attacked the settlement below. For the most part, the Heartless were pouring through the entrance, I took note of the puzzling mechanisms by the gates. They launched spheres to kill Heartless? The larger ones, such as the Guard Armors, had moved on through with no problem, and fought what looked like the town's defenders. With Maleficent transforming into her dragon form, something was amiss to me, perhaps someone was stronger than her? Her massive head descended towards a young boy, from a distance I couldn't see from, so I elected to stay and watch.

**...**

The dragon let loose a violent stream of fire from its mouth. The three dodged quickly, with Sora rushing in. Maleficent roared and swiped her tail at Sora, missing and hitting one of the Guard Armors, knocking it over. He yelled to Donald, who thrust his staff in the air, thunder echoed in the skies before a torrent of lightning struck Maleficent, hard. The dragon seemed unaffected, however, and brought up one of her claws and smashed a house, sending debris at Donald. He screeched and scrambled in one direction, the debris missed, but ended up separating him from Sora, Goofy went long and began helping Donald dig through the rubble. Sora glided out of the way as she followed him, swishing her massive tail in an attempt to crush Sora. He quickly used Flowmotion, jumping off a wall of a house to towards the dragon's head. Maleficent responded to this with launching fire at Sora, but he was right next to her head now.

_Now to use the spell, _He thought to himself.

Sora could feel the immense heat as the fire closed in alarmingly fast, but Sora had a plan.

"Reflectga!" He shouted, and at just the right time.

Translucent hexagons surrounded Sora, forming a sphere, the incoming flames were absorbed by the shield. The shield flared up in white light a wave of energy expanded outward. Maleficent roared in pain, stunned from the explosion.

"Graviga!"

The ball of darkness dragged the dragon's head to the ground, Maleficent tried to lift it, but it weighted more than her body now. Sora still in the air, brought his Kingdom Key above his head and brought it down on Maleficent. The blow struck Maleficent between her pure green eyes, the blow caused her to rip away from the failing Gravity spell, she screeched as her entire body shook and fell to the ground. Maleficent returned to her human form, her forehead bleeding. Growling, she struggled to stand up, and her eyes were once again glazed over, staring upwards. Goofy had dug through the rubble and helped Donald, both of them were fighting the Guard Armors with Leon and Yuffie.

Sora once again looked over Maleficent, this couldn't be her, she was too crafty for something as simple as this. And to go this far as to attack the committee? Sora felt that something was very wrong about this, as it just doesn't add up. The random attack, her terrible appearance, and the mindlessness behind her attacks. SHe never functioned like this, what was it?

Before an answer came to mind, Maleficent's body turned to ash.

**Leave a review! I could use some feedback to see what I can improve on.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Holidays have kept me busy, anyway here is the next chapter!**

Chapter 7

This must have been the boy that Maleficent had in her memories, the one who defeated her so many times. Only this time its anger didn't influence me as I watched him defeat its dragon form. The spell that reserved her body didn't exactly keep its mind intact, so to speak. Its movements were sluggish and simple and didn't match her cunning and strength when we battled. The corpse however, could still become an overgrown lizard capable of at least something. Maleficent returned to normal, and the boy stood a small distance away from it. Now to see what he...wait...is that?

"No..."

Rage began to surge inside of me, sending energy shooting through my body. Rose came to my mind, the image of her stabbing herself with her own Keyblade. I grunted, actually feeling strong pain in my chest, the feeling faded quickly and was replaced with hate and contempt. There was a light breeze today, not anymore, it had picked up, swirling around me, faster and faster, making a whirlwind. I barely noticed, I clenched my fists so hard I could feel pain, adrenaline coursing through me in spasms. The whirlwind grew stronger, the air screamed spinning around me violently. I didn't care now, nothing matters, the Keyblade wielder is dead, gone, _now_. Maleficent's corpse turned to ash, too bad, a useless piece of garbage that served no purpose. I redirected the air, pushing it beneath my feet and compressing it, more and more, making an air bomb. The entire castle shook, but then it was me, hurtling towards the town, my ears rung, most likely from the sonic boom.

**...**

"What the...!" Donald almost shouted, startled. Maleficent all the sudden turned to ash, Sora panicked, normally Maleficent survived, disappearing in air and appearing to them at another time.

"Is she...?" Sora started, but stopped, for once Maleficent might've actually died. The pile of white ash sat there, motionless. Sora half expected her to fly out of the ashes and try and kill them again. But nothing happened, a light wind picked up, and the ashes flew off in the wind until Sora and his friends could no longer see them.

Sora looked over, one Guard Armor was left, and Leon dismembered it quickly, its arms falling to the ground with a loud _clunk_, before unloading gun into the head, knocking it off as well. The massive Heartless was left with its massive feet and torso, its feet however went into the position of his arms and the arms picked themselves off the ground, going to where the feet were. The head went back where it should've been and the torso flipped upside down, the visor moved down on the Guard Armor's head, revealing yellow eyes customary of Heartless. It was now the Opposite Armor.

"Get ready!" Sora shouted, "Its now much stronger than it was before!"

The Opposite Armor rearranged itself, forming into a cannon.

Then, loud booming noise broke their concentration, what was that? A large shockwave smashed into the them, throwing them off their feet. Sora hit Merlin's house before falling to the ground, black dots began clouded the edge of his vision. When he looked up, the Opposite Armor was gone, most likely destoyed, but in the center stood a light-skinned man. He wore a set of robes colored malachite green with violet cuffs, a sash of the same color was wrapped around his upper torso and shoulders, coming from the sash was ebony black amulet with a shining red crystal that contrasted the bright color of his clothing. His eyes were striking, being two different colors. One was light blue, with an expression of callousness in his eyes, another was an impassive gray, but deep inside he could see a fire burning in them, as if someone had upset him.

"Donald? Goofy? Anyone?" Sora could barely speak, and felt like he was choking.

The man must have heard him and spoke.

"They are unconscious, do not worry." His voice was deep, but was slightly hoarse. "I, however want something from you."

Sora got up and summoned his Kingdom Key. "Who are you?"

The man tensed, and his expression changed, his brows furrowed and his frown deepened.

"My name is Eden."

Sora was half-tempted to run at Eden and attack him, but if Yen Sid was right, than it wouldn't be wise to run and attack the magician without thinking about it. Sora noticed some things were different about Eden though. One, he was wearing robes that were much brighter and more colorful than in the apparition, and two, there was no scar that was on his face. His hair was dark blonde and wasn't that long, his bangs covering half of his forehead and his hair was only down to his ears.

"So, are you here for me?" Sora asked, still in a fighting stance. Eden smiled and shook his head.

"No, I am here to for your Keyblade, boy."

"Why?"

"There are a million ways to tell you why I want it, but I will tell you the most simple version."

Sora suddenly felt something strange, as if he was light-headed, then it as quick as it came, the dizzyness faded.

**...**

I had probed the boy's mind, seeking to find something of his origins, a came across a image of an old man, one dressed in blue robes and a conical hat that was adorned with stars, his bushy eyebrows and beard had become gray with age that were accompanied with a watchful gaze.

_Yen Sid._

Another memory came to me, the man's name, Yen Sid. He was a Keyblade Master, and I met him once. He was in the Great Keyblade War, just like me, except much younger than I was, still an apprentice. Then, like a plug in a facet, the memories stopped flowing. I didn't care, now I would tell him, inform him of his ignorance.

"You know of the Great Keyblade War, yes?"

"Bits and pieces..." the boy admitted.

Good, I can't wait to see his reaction. The excitement made me giddy, waiting to crush the pathetic Keyblade bearer's spirit, shatter him to his core.

"Then let me educate you," My voice had begun to sound enthusiastic.

"The war started for one purpose, and one purpose only: to gain control of the power of Kingdom Hearts' light, and so they needed a weapon." I gestured towards the disgusting weapon in his hand, the mere sight of it filled me with rage, but I surpressed it.

"That..._thing_...was what they made, the first of them were based off the _X_-blade, and soon after they created it, they turned on each other, factions were established at that time and they waged war. The worlds were drowned in darkness, and so was Kingdom Hearts."

I looked him in the eyes, those innocent, ocean blue eyes watched and listened.

"It was because of the Keyblades, boy, _they _caused the destruction of the worlds and Kingdom Hearts to disappear. _They_ plunged the worlds into the dark and removed Kingdom Hearts from the world."

The boy looked down at his Keyblade.

It did not work, it really didn't.

"Shut up! What would you know about it?" He stepped into a fighting stance.

I sighed, oh well, I will have to rip it out of him then. I summoned my staff, the one made of rotting bones, and prepared for a fight.

**Leave a review! Let me know what I can do better!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Eden vs Sora

Sora moved first, his Keyblade swishing in the air as he performed various combos on Eden, who, with incredible grace, blocked them with his unnatural staff. Sora kicked at his shin, but Eden saw this and dashed backwards.

"Blizzard!" Sora shouted. A large chunk of ice formed in his hand and flew out at Eden.

He conjured a ball of fire and melted the ice spell, rendering it a puddle of water. Sora dashed forward, intent on striking the robed man, Eden manipulated the water and froze it, making ice spears and launching it at Sora.

"Fire!" The stream of fire reduced the spikes to water again. Steam blocked his vision for a moment, then a hand wrapped around his neck, the steam cleared and revealed Eden. Sora swung his Keyblade at Eden, he ducked but lost his hold on Sora, who kicked him in the chest. He grunted in pain, and Sora rose his Keyblade and swung, but was met with a _clunk_ as Eden brought up the staff in defense. Almost instantly, he brought up a powerful leg from beneath his robes and kicked Sora as well, but sending him flying away with a cry.

**...**

I launched the boy into the wreckage of a burning house and closed in. He was knocked silly by my kick, which had power, and sat against a wall holding his head. I approached triumphantly, I believe he was out of "juice" so to say.

"Get up, Keyblade bearer, I still need your weapon."

He didn't look at me, but I began to feel his aura, slowly expanding, becoming stronger. I conjured lightning and launched a stream of it at him, but he blocked it, no, deflected it. His clothes had turned red, and began to stand up. He looked me in the eye, and his cartoonish Keyblade disappeared. Then, two more appeared in both hands.

"Come and get it." And he charged towards me.

**...**

Sora fought with renewed vigor, slashing with Oblivion and Oathkeeper, forcing Eden on the defensive, blocking most of the strikes and dodging the others. Eden swung downwards with his staff, but Sora blocked it with both Keyblades, but then brought Oathkeeper and slashed at his stomach. To Sora's surprise he caught it, and frost quickly covered the blade, being distracted, Sora only felt pain in his side as something hit his ribs, hard. He spun back around catching Eden's shoulder with Oblivion, cutting through the robes and leaving a long cut. Eden hissed in pain, and to Sora's horror, he crushed Oathkeeper's blade, rendering it useless. Using his free hand, Eden compressed the air around them into a ball, and shoved it into Sora's chest. Sora's vision blurred, and didn't remember much of what happened, only being hurled a back into the wall he had slammed into earlier. He tried to gasp or yell in pain, but his lungs were empty, the air knocked out of them. He saw double for sure as Eden stood in front of him. His vision cleared, and noticed that Eden's free hand was see through, and the look on his face was one of twisted happiness and joy. Sora couldn't do anything, his bones were like water and his limbs ached with exhaustion, and just stared, dazed and tired.

"You did fight well, boy." Eden commended, "I love it when they make me work for it."

Sora spoke, his voice nearly a whisper, "Why...why are you doing this? Why do you say those things, about the Keyblades?"

Eden's translucent hand drifted closer to him, ever so slowly, like a snail.

"I told you why, the Keyblades took away Kingdom Hearts." Eden replied, "What's your name?"

"Sora."

"Well Sora, say goodbye to reality, you will never see the light of day again."

Eden's hand slipped through Sora's chest, and immediately Sora felt immense pain, massive waves of fire rippled through him, it was unbearable. He bit his down on his lip, trying to distract himself from the pain, thinking of his friends. In the end, he couldn't bear it, and began to scream.

**...**

I quietly went to work, searching through him to find the link. On the other hand, Sora screamed out, I must have forgotten how much pain this puts on the victim. I grabbed hold of his soul, ready to pull out.

"Thundaga!" The lightning slammed into me, paralyzing me for a moment. I was filled with rage, and looked over to see Sora's companions, the town defenders, and a...mouse?

"Get Sora!" The mouse commanded. Who is he thinking, being a leader?

He ran at me, and I saw the Keyblade in his hand. I was surprised and angry, another one?!

He jumped and swung at me, I blocked with my staff, flipped it, and pinned the rodent to the ground. I looked over at where I left Sora, and saw the others drag him away. A red hot inferno grew in my hand as my frustration rose. I launched it at them, but the duck cast Blizzard and reduced it to water. The mouse must have escaped from underneath the staff, as when I turned, I was smashed in the face with that infernal blade. My anger flared, and I grabbed the stupid rodent by the neck.

_LIfe force drainer._

I began to feel its energy flow through my arm, it struggled, trying to get out. Slowly, it began to struggle less and less, and my pleasure grew. However, the mouse choked out something.

"St-Stop..." I laughed at the mouse, and shocked the rodent, then let it drop.

Four balls of orange energy circled the skulls on my staff, and I aimed at the still fleeing group.

"Stopga!" I swung around and threw the energy spheres at the mouse, but it was nowhere to be found. I turned around, the duck, mouse, dog, and Sora were gone. All that was left was the town defenders. A girl with a fuma shuriken, a boy with a strange looking blade, and an old looking magician.

I screamed in anger, my aura flaring and expanding. I had been outsmarted by a mouse, A DAMN MOUSE! The town defenders reacted to this, preparing their weapons.

I glared at them, and in one of my hands I prepared a Flare magic spell. I could use some new corpses to raise.


	9. Chapter 9

**Break is over! Now, you may be wondering why Sora didn't use more than his Valor Form. The fight with Xehanort had crippled Sora, making him lose contact with a lot of his limit forms, so the fight with Eden was much more difficult for him. Anyway here is the chapter.**

The town surrounding us was burning from the fires Maleficent produced. What was once a well developed community, which most likely took a large amount of time to build, was reduced to ashes in less than a few hours. Now in front of me were three others, those who wished to gain vengeance on me. The girl and old man seemed more or less shocked with their destroyed home, the one they called Leon was a different story.

"You have ruined everything we have built..." He had spat at me, his hair covered his face, masking the intense anger that he no doubtably was keeping penned up.

"Why did you do this? What did we ever deserve to have this happen to us?" The girl asked me, her eyes full of hurt, as if finally feeling the big bad world's fury come down on her. The old one said nothing, staring at me with a look that could kill a man.

I take a moment to look around at what I caused, the crackling of the raging fires roared loudly as they consumed buildings and houses. The strange security system was destroyed, allowing many more Heartless to swarm in and look for the trapped people that were undoubtably somewhere in the ruined settlement. The Heartless would then feed on them, devouring their hearts and transforming them into more of the monsterous beings. All those deaths, all this destruction, would be put on my shoulders, I would live with the guilt that I ruined peoples' _lives_.

I have, however, come to a decision, I do not care about what happened here, and the loss of lives that I caused is something that I am willing to accept. I responded to them, letting them know how much I give about their settlement.

"Sometimes collateral damage is necessary in order to destroy a greater evil." I stated calmly. Leon jerked his head up, his eyes emblazened with fury.

I briefly wondered if this was me. Why do I feel this way about the village? Aside from the Keyblade War and Maleficent, I really don't remember who I was.

"What greater evil?! Do the lives you've destroyed mean nothing to you?! You think that this is a game, that no one will stop you?!" He yelled in outrage. Bringing up his weapon he prepared to charge at me.

I raised my free hand, which held the Flare spell in it.

"This is not a game," I tell him, "I am doing the worlds a favor by ridding the Keyblades of them. So get out of my way."

Leon dashed forward, dragging his strange sword across the ground.

"Wait!" Leon stopped mid-run, I turned towards the old man, who finally spoke up. He took of his glasses, cleaned them, and put them back on.

"Eden?" He asked.

My eyes widened, how does he know my name? He suddenly looked very familiar...his robes...those glasses...what was his name? Then like turning on a lightbulb, the answer was mine.

"Your name is Merlin." I stated matter-of-factly. Merlin nodded, his black eyes focusing on me.

"And your name is Eden."

I stared at him cautiously, last time I confirmed myself as Eden I was blasted in the chest.

"You are Eden, aren't you?"

I shuffled uncomfortably, why does he know me? _How does_ he know me?

...

...

Can't remember. Damn it.

Merlin raised his wand, if he knew me _that_ way...

I used the Flare spell in my hand and shoved it into Merlin's chest, kicked him away before it detonated, the orange ball exploded loudly as I returned my attention back to Leon and the girl. They were gone, I'm guessing to catch me off guard. Thick smoke was produced from the fire, and quickly cloaked the area in blackness. I could't see, so I didn't bother, instead I listened quietly, waiting for a simple noise, anything to let me know where they are. The simple crackling of the fires...the loud creaking of wood collapsing...

_Whish!_

I swung around quickly, a fuma shuriken flying toward me. I bent backward letting the spinning weapon fly over me, the girl moved with like the wind, and was above me in a flash. She brought the heel of her foot down on my chest, I grunted as I felt the impact, and lost the air in my lungs as I slammed into the ground. I made a strange noise, like something deflating. I fought back and grabbed her wrist, she brought her other hand up decked me in the face in retaliation. I held on tight and send electricity through her, making her sit straight up as sparks flowed across her body. I let go, leaving her with a patch of smoldering, blackened skin on her wrist and her body steaming. I quickly shoved her off and picked up my staff. As I did, I felt something sharp touch the back of my head.

"Die."

I heard a loud cracking noise, then everything faded to black.

**...**

I pulled the trigger on my gunblade, which put a bullet through the robed freak's head. His body fell without a sound, his nightmarish staff clunking onto the ground next to him. I stared at his lifeless body, he was dead, the one who destroyed our home was dead. I let loose the breath that I was holding and went over to Yuffie. She moaned in pain, the skin on her left wrist was blackened, which she cradled gingerly. I propped her up, causing her to gasp from the pain.

"You are alright?" I ask. Yuffie nods weakly, that shock must have done more than I thought.

"Merlin...Cid..." She says quietly.

"I don't know, we will find them." I tell her, now that the freak was dead, I could find Merlin.

"Right here, actually." I drew my gunblade in a flash and spun around. Relief flooded my systems, Merlin was alive.

"It's good to see you are alright, Merlin." I tell him, he nods quickly and casts a Cure spell on Yuffie. A green bellflower floated above her and bathed her in green light, she managed to get up, and I noticed that her blackened wrist remained. I looked over at Merlin, he shrugged.

"I used a lot of power to escape Eden's attack." He explained, "Otherwise I wouldn't be here and you would be dog food for him."

I was confused. "Merlin, how do you know his name?" Merlin's face became grim.

"I won't say much, only that Me and Yen Sid knew him. Was a powerful magician, stronger than me or Yen Sid were." Merlin explained.

"I defeated him though, put a bullet through him while he was distracted." Merlin looked horrified, his eyes widened and his skin paler.

"What?" I asked him.

"We need to go, right now." Merlin said frantically.

"Why? What about Cid?"

"He is gone, I think."

He thinks, that makes total sense.

"It's not the point though, there are many things that Eden can do that many do not dare try. You can't kill him that way, we have very little time!" He tugged on my shirt, trying to get me to move.

I grabbed by the shoulders and shook him, "But_ why _Merlin?! Why can't he be killed?!"

He stared at me in the eye, his look was of utter fear.

"He is the Necromancer of the Condemned."

Merlin's eyes rolled back into his head, and he grabbed his throat, like trying to pry hands from his windpipe. I let go of him and stepped back, all the hairs on my neck stood up, fear flowed through my body as I saw the man I just killed with his hand through Merlin's body. His face shrouded in darkness by a hood.

He then spoke, his deep, cool voice suddenly becoming very disturbing to me, sending shivers down my spine.

"_He's right, you know._"

He retracted his hand from Merlin's chest, leaving no wound, no spot of blood. But in his hand was a bright green light, I looked at it. For some reason, I found it beautiful, compelling even, to look at, I remembered Rinoa, my lover, I could hear her laughter, her voice calling my name.

"_Squall...Squall...come see me..."_

Yes, my love.

I failed to realize that the green light was gone, and that Eden's hand was translucent. I barely felt anything, and I felt my feet moving, shuffling closer to the taller man's hand. Eventually feeling something in my chest, like a fire blooming, then it grew, spreading pain through me. I felt searing pain in my body, then I felt like I was on fire, _I _was on fire.

_"Squall..."_

The voice was but a whisper, and I felt far away and lost, the pain continued to grow, but I didn't scream or thrash about, I just cared about Rinoa now. The pain was gone, and now the world spun around me, slowly becoming darker and darker until there was nothing left.

Rinoa, Rinoa.

**...**

I had woken up a short time after I was knocked out to find that I was still alive. I felt disturbed, scared even, at why I survived something that would have killed me. For some reason, I felt different. Like something inside me changed, but what?

_Darkness..._

I suddenly felt very cold, like standing in the middle a blizzard. A cool rush flowed through my body, down my spine, through my arms and legs. It felt good.

"...we have little time!"

I looked over, seeing the old man with Leon and the girl who I electrocuted. I flicked on my hood and stood up, I noticed my staff had not dispelled, so I did, I would not need it. I quietly approached the trio, the smoke had surrounded me, it stung my eyes, but it hid my presence from them.

"But _why _Merlin?! Why can't he be killed?!"

Though the smoke I followed the voices and eventually found them, seeing Leon shaking Merlin by his shoulders. I willed my hand to be see through, preparing to steal the old man's soul from him.

"He is the Necromancer of the Condemned."

I drove my hand through Merlin, causing Leon to let go of him and back away. My victim convulsed and grabbed his throat, trying to resist. I ripped my hand out, revealing the soul within. The body dropped to the ground, lifeless. It was green, like Maleficent's, and made the small area we were standing in glow dimly. Leon stood there, his eyes slightly wide, but still carried a look of defiance.

_"He is right, you know."_ I said, my own voice sounding disembodied and distorted.

_Illusionist..._

The air around us began to shimmer and Merlin's soul began to pulsate. I expanded my conscious outwards, probing Leon's mind and planting fake images within. The illusion took effect, and his mind became clouded, unfocused. He stumbled toward's me, coming closer, I smirked beneath the hood. In my free hand I crushed the bright green light, making it darker once more.

"Squall!" The girl screamed. I looked at her in annoyance.

"He cannot hear you, he is trapped in his mind." I explained.

I then plunged my hand through Leon, which rewarded me with a scream from the girl again. I pulled out, revealing something new, a soul colored orange and red, flickering and dancing like a open flame. It looked so much prettier than Maleficent's or Merlin's, I studied the soul for a few more seconds, then crushed it as well. All that was left was the girl, who sat staring at me. She quickly jumped up and in a flash of smoke disappeared. I stood calmly, knowing she would attack me from behind, and she did. I heard her reappearing, and ducked, avoiding a fuma shuriken to the back. She dashed off a wall and charged her weapon with magic, making it fly around her, I jumped back and dodged every strike she threw, waiting for her to become tired. Eventually, her rapid swinging became slower, her speed reduced. I grabbed her by the throat and pinned the woman to the wall. She didn't fight it, she had her eyes closed, facing away from me, waiting for me to kill her. I did nothing, just watched her hang limply in my grasp.

"Kill me already." She said, her voice had become monotone, like one who had lost all will to live. I chuckled, I doubt she is ready to die.

"I have tortured you enough." She opened her eyes to look at me.

"What do you want?" She asked, her tone dead.

"Nothing," I tell her.

But I do want something, I want the Keyblade bearers to know that their greatest fear has returned, that their role in all of the worlds are over. I bring her down so I can whisper in her ear.

"Just tell them that I'm still alive." I tell her.

I drop her, and turned to leave for Maleficent's castle. My work was done here. Purple smoke swirled into my hands, I form them into spheres and cast them over Leon and Merlin's bodies, a moment later they stood, with Leon lazily dragging his weapon on the ground, and both Merlin and Leon's corpses taking a pale pigment and rolled over eyes. They followed me slowly, shuffling their feet. As I left the settlement, the Heartless pouring in stopped to look at me, as I passed them, they followed in my footsteps, just like the corpses I rose were doing. All the Heartless left, leaving a destroyed town behind. I believe if Sora discovers this, he will be driven even further to try to kill me.

He will fight me again, but this time, I will make sure he doesn't get away.

**Leave a review! I believe I did pretty good on this one!**


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